Tuesday, July 6, 2010

All right, Dodge. Your American Revolution ad was ridiculous. You've got 30 more seconds to sell me on the Challenger. And... go.

Sigh.

It doesn't take a genius to elucidate the reasons this ad is stupid, but let's cover them.

Voiceover: "When people see a UFO, they never say, 'I wonder what those consumer review sites would think about that thing.'"

Uh... what? I can think of about 500 reasons not only why no one would do that, but why no one would ever think that anyone would do that, including, but not limited to:

* No one is planning on buying a UFO, hence the lack of a need to see product reviews* No one thinks consumer review sites would have information on a UFO* What in blue fuck is wrong with you

Voiceover: "They say, 'Dude, that's a freaking UFO!'"

First of all, I don't care how cool you think your car looks. It is not analogous to alien spacecraft technology. Second of all, I think anyone with half a brain can see the half-assed snow job Dodge is attempting to pull. This is like putting out a shitty movie, refusing to screen it for critics, then running ads that say, "When people see a beautiful sunset, they don't say, 'I wonder if Roger Ebert would give this sunset a thumbs-up.'" Dodge is basically saying, "Hey, this 30-second slow-motion shot of our car driving ten feet? That's all you need to see. What? Shut up. Stop asking questions. The Car Fox doesn't work here." It's nothing more than basic misdirection, an attempt to get you to focus on the one thing they're apparently actually proud of - the car's design - at the expense of anything else. I mean, don't most car ads have pricing, or some listing of features, or even just some legal boilerplate? Not this one. But it compares the car to a UFO, so hey, there's that.

Other copy that Dodge rejected for the ad:

"When people see a UFO, they never say, 'I wonder what kind of gas mileage that thing gets.' They say, 'Dude, that's a freaking UFO.'"

"When people see a UFO, they never say, 'What do you suppose that costs? I sure would be interested in seeing some lease information.' They say, 'Dude, that's a freaking UFO.'"

"When people see a UFO, they never say, 'Yeah, but the UFOs made in the Vega system are cheaper, safer and more reliable. I'm just not sure I want to buy an Andromedan UFO this time.' They say, 'Dude, that's a freaking UFO.'"